Random Thoughts About Bat-Free Days and Groundhogs

For the past couple of weekends, I’ve been watching a groundhog rummage around one of my neighbor’s yards. From a distance, groundhogs are quite cute. So I took out my trusty Bushnell binoculars and took a closer look.

Still cute.

Then it turned around and looked in my direction, like it knew it was being watched.

It’s face was almost badger-like and it looked mean and angry. I put down the binoculars and went about my business.

Which brings me to bats — I know, I know, but I’ve already warned you that mind is random. It amazes me how an event so small, like a bat crawling under my tire and hissing at me when I thought it was a rock, can impact me for years.

It’s been almost two years since I had my bat-run-in, and I still think of that poor little creature. To some degree, I feel like it was calling out for help and that I let it down. Maybe I should have taken to a local bat rescue, rather than leave it up to Maintenance. Then again, maybe it was going die anyway and it wanted me to help it die with dignity. I didn’t do that either. It died in a box in a maintenance closet.

Thinking about bats, makes me think about that new ringtone that most people over the age of twenty can’t hear. Well, apparently I’m not most people. Not only can I hear it, but it hurts quite a bit. After a co-worker kept playing it (partly to watch me react), my ears rang for a couple of hours. The sound makes me feel like my eardrums are liquefying. Kind of like how I feel when a U2 song comes on. I wonder if Bono Vox emits a similar frequency when he sings?